Montoya, Gordon IMS press conference, part II

Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Gordon
Speed Demonstration Press Conference, June 11, 2003
Part 2 of 3
Q:
I'm Roy Oliemuller with BMW North America with the communications
group. Just to let you know, actually it came about in a conversation
that...

Q:
I'm Roy Oliemuller with BMW North America with the communications
group. Just to let you know, actually it came about in a conversation
that our COO Tom Purvis had with Rick Hendrick approximately a year and
a half to two ago, and it was just a thought to see if we could have
some fun with this, make some greater awareness for the Formula One
drivers in a comparison to the Winston Cup cars. And, as Jeff said, we
tried desperately to pull this off last August, but we got them here.

MODERATOR:
Say the name again.

Q:
First name is Roy, last name is Oliemuller, O-L-I-E-M-U-L-L-E-R.

MODERATOR:
Thank you.

Q:
Jeff, from your experience today, would you say that a young American
who has aspirations for Formula One is wasting his time in a Midget
Sprint car and a Silver Crown car?

GORDON:
If he wants to go to Formula One, absolutely. I think at a very
young age they can start there, but in my opinion, I think that you --
even if you're American, European, it doesn't matter where you're from,
you have to be over there growing up racing on those types of tracks,
some type of car that's similar to that. I think a great race car driver
can make it, but I think in order to be recognized and to get in that
type of experience on those tracks, in those types of cars, absolutely.
I think you have to be over there. Juan would know a lot more about it
than I would, because he made it work through the CART series and got
there. But I don't see how an American driver can be over here racing on
ovals, you know, and then all of a sudden go over and be somebody that a
Formula One team wants to hire for the road courses.

Q:
In your experience today what's your appetite for a possible
open-wheel drive in the future?

GORDON:
You know, lately I've been a lot more open to getting behind
the wheel of different types of cars. You know, I did the rally race
over in Spain last year, had a blast with that, and I think since then
it's opened my mind to just get the chance when it makes sense and I
have the time to do it, and I was going to make time for this. You know,
that's why I'm so glad that it happened, but anything besides this, I
don't know. If the right opportunity came, you know, Danny Lasoski is
asking me to get out there and drive his sprint cars somewhere when
he's testing. I'd love to do that, too. It's been a while since I've
driven a sprint car. Other than that I'm so busy with the Winston Cup
and everything that we do, I'm pretty happy and content there.

MODERATOR:
Guys, there was a second part to this lady's question.

Q:
We wanted to know about your expectations coming into today. Was
this just a day to have some fun or did you have realistic expectations
either of you are what you could -- just comparing, if you could.

MONTOYA:
For me, you know, I came and I didn't know what to expect from
the car. Something that I was very clear is that I was going to go out
there, you know, drive a car I've never driven and just have some fun.
And I think today was go out, push a car you've never driven in your
life, nothing close to it and just push it around as hard as you can.
As drivers, we are always going to go out and push as hard as we can.
We're not going to go out there and just cruise. We want some action.
When I went out, I was going for it. And I think that was -- they told
me how you be careful when you drive the car. Yeah, yeah, right. And I
was like, you know, I don't know if I'm ever going to get an opportunity
to drive a car like this again. It was a lot of fun to drive for me and
you're not going to waste the opportunity, you know. You got to go for
it.

MODERATOR:
What about you, Jeff?

GORDON:
My goals coming in were just to go out there, and I wanted
to push the car enough to feel what it was capable of and feel good
about myself that I didn't just go out there and drive around, that
I actually, you know, drove the car at speed enough to really much
and get a feel for it, and I'm happy with that. I didn't know what
to expect. I think the car probably exceeded my expectations in its
braking capabilities and accelerating and just everything that it was
able to do. My neck is going to be so sore tomorrow, I've certainly
got an appreciation for him holding his head up in that car. You know,
running at Bristol for 500 laps, I know what that feels like, but
this is a totally different experience because it's pulling in every
direction, forward, back, left, right, and I certainly didn't expect
some of those things. But the car just has such a tight feel to it,
it's just so stuck, and he told me, he did, you're not going to notice
the acceleration as much as you think. I don't know what he was talking
about. I put my foot to the floor of that thing the first time and
I went, 'Whoa,' you know. It got my attention in a hurry. And then
once I realized about the traction control and some of those things I
realized that you really can lay into it. But I try not to have too many
expectations because I knew that it was just a fun experience. I didn't
want to hit anything, and I wanted to say that I feel good about how
hard I pushed the car.

MODERATOR:
Given your credentials as a race car driver in this country
-- and this might be silly to ask, but then again maybe not -- was there
ever a thought in the back of your mind saying I don't want to embarrass
myself in this car?

GORDON:
Yeah. I didn't want to embarrass myself, one, by crashing it
because I mean -

MONTOYA:
That would be bad.

GORDON:
That would have been bad. One is, that regardless, that's an
expensive piece of machinery. He can wreck my car, you know, and it
wouldn't take too much money to fix it. That thing would take a lot to
fix.

MODERATOR:
I hear some rumblings from your crew behind me.

GORDON:
The embarrassment would have been big, but I think I would have
been more embarrassed if I'd not pushed the car. I think I'd have been
more disappointed in myself than anything else, and that's the thing I
think I'm most proud of is that I watch Juan drive that thing down in
the 50 mark and I was like 'OK, I'll be happy if I drive to the 75.'
And I think I almost got to the 50 one time, you know, so I can't be
disappointed with anything that happened out there.

Q:
You both are in the media spotlight and public spotlight nonstop
24/7. How does it feel to just come out and have fun in a race car for
both of you?

GORDON:
That's what's so refreshing is to be able to do something that's
more for fun. We're so caught up in competition all the time and having
to be faster than every guy out there and having to push the limits,
push the limits, today I knew I had no pressure on me. I didn't expect
to outdo any lap times or do any particular lap times. I didn't even
know what lap times the F1 cars ran and, you know, I just wanted to go
out there and really enjoy myself. And I honestly can say it was one of
the most enjoyable experiences and days I've ever had behind the wheel
of a race car.

MONTOYA:
And for me it works in the same way. Everyone, we do a lot of
testing, you know, we test every week after a race, we spend three or
four days testing, we drive the car and you got to be methodical. In a
race we can just stay focused, what do you do, what do you do, where
here you just sit down and just drive the wheels of it. That's a lot of
fun. You don't have any pressure that you got to go quick, you don't
have any pressure of anything. You just kind of go out there and have
fun.

GORDON:
You didn't want to wreck that thing either, right?

MONTOYA:
No, you don't want to wreck it, I do agree. I was going through
Turn 1 backward, and it's like -- and he's like, oh, no, you wouldn't
want that.

Q:
Could each of you tell us how you used your feet differently in the
two cars?

MONTOYA:
Same.

GORDON:
No difference really. Just a different feel in the pedals. The
Winston Cup car is a long travel on the throttle and probably the brakes
a little bit spongier. But most of it's just the cockpit is narrower
and angles are different. But I know when Juan put the steering wheel
on my car on the first time, he is like, 'What is this thing?' He was
laughing. This big steering wheel and it was right in his face and he
was like, 'I need it out there and up here.' And it's similar to me, you
know. I got in there and I was like this (indicating), so it's certainly
a new experience there. But no, in the Winston Cup cars now with the
transmissions we have, we left-foot brake and, you know, downshift. The
only thing I don't have to match any RPMs with the F1 car where you know
we had to with the NASCAR Winston Cup.

Q:
That was my question, just about moving the steering wheel for both
of you guys because, Jeff, can you imagine road racing like that? Juan?

MONTOYA:
The first time I got in, he said, 'Oh, I like the steering
wheel low.' And I was like, 'Low?' The steering wheel was against my
legs, I'm like, 'Right.' So they pushed it a bit away, and that was OK.
I think the biggest difference I really felt on the braking was that the
F1 the amount of pressure you put and bite you get is very direct. You
know you press harder, you get more here. You get to the point if you
press harder you smoke the tires. It's like, that's it, you know, pull a
parachute or something.

Q:
Juan, a lot of F1 purists tend to look down their noses at other
forms of racing, particularly stock cars, but how impressed were you by
what Jeff did? How well did he actually do in your opinion?

MONTOYA:
I think he did really well. I'll we honest with you, I wasn't
expecting any less from him. I got to say he's a very good driver.
He's done really good things. If you look at his background, anything
he's driven, he's won. And he's like, you know, I got in the car, and
I was comfortable with it straightaway. And it's the same thing, you
know. I think we're both drivers, to get to where we are, we've driven
through a lot of things. And when you're a good driver you probably
drive anything, from a tractor to a F1 or, you know -

GORDON:
He thought he was driving a tractor there.

MONTOYA:
No, I didn't. I was going to say I was very amazed with the
power. That's -- it's like I revved the first time to like six, seven
thousand, I was like, 'That feels OK.' Then on the backstretch I went in
the first gear all the way to nine thousand, I was like, 'This is pretty
good.'

Q:
You know all that, but most people (inaudible).

MONTOYA:
I think it's two different things I think. In a F1, it's all
about technology and the leading edge on anything, yeah. You know, where
like here the tires are stuck, same tires for everybody. For us each
race tires are three or four-tenths quicker. You look at the lap times
how they drop over the last three years, it's been crazy. The cars are a
bit quicker, but most of the time it comes down to the tire, and that's
the way it happens. Everything is the ultimate in F1. Where I think
Winston they look at a way to have more even racing. They're not -- they
probably put apart a little bit the performance. The organizers put the
performance side away to try to get a closer racing performance where
you can see two, three side-by-side racing for I don't know how many
laps. You know, you look at the small ovals where they race, that's
crazy, you know.

GORDON:
We need to take him to Bristol. Then you'd have some fun.

Q:
Jeff, how disorienting was it to come down the front stretch in the
opposite direction?

GORDON:
I can say it wasn't as disorienting as it was after I stepped
on the brakes the first time and the blood rushed out of my head. The
front -- you know, I did it in the stock car the very first time and
it was unique driving to the right. But the road course cars are so
set up to turn right, they're better to the right than they are to the
left, actually, and so it wasn't that big of a deal. But, you know,
every once in a while I'd come down the straightaway and I'd go, 'Hey,
this is cool, I've never driven this direction on purpose down this
straightaway.' So, really, my day was all about getting in that F1 car,
and I really didn't pay a lot of attention to driving backward down the
front straightaway as I did what was going to happen when I got to the
end of the straightaway.

Q:
Just a quick follow-up. You run at Watkins Glen, you run at Sears
Point. What's your thoughts on the way this road course is here?

GORDON:
I don't know what the opinion of the Formula One drivers is of
this course. But it's a beautiful course, they did a great job, the
curves are nice, and the paving is awesome. It's very, very flat for us.
You know, for a stock car to not have some kind of banking, to have a
little bit more grip and also bit more speed, you know, that's why we do
so well at Watkins Glen and why they've made so many changes at Sears
Point for us is to make the track much faster and more banking in areas
that we possibly can because we need to be able to be -- to get more
aggressive and feel the grip. Where this track is so flat you're hardly
even on the gas, you're just kind of sliding, sliding, sliding and then
there's a couple straightaways that you actually get after it and brake.
But I think that we would have a little bit of trouble here as flat as
it is, but -- that doesn't mean that it's not a great course. I do think
it is a nice course.